'H-1B programme is completely broken': JD Vance backs scrapping visa system

Vance defended Trump administration’s controversial $100,000 payment requirement for certain H-1B petitions. US Vice President JD Vance has called the H-1B visa programme “completely broken” and said he would support scrapping it, accusing companies of using the system to replace American workers with lower-paid foreign employees.In a video shared on X, Vance said the programme had been “totally taken advantage of” by technology companies, accounting firms and other businesses. He distinguished between hiring highly skilled foreign professionals and using H-1B visas to reduce labour costs.“If you’re going to bring in an accountant making $45,000 a year to replace an accountant who is an American making $60,000 a year, that’s not you using the programme to bring in a genius,” Vance said.“That’s you destroying American jobs and defrauding the American people,” he added.Vance defends $100,000 H-1B feeVance also defended the Trump administration’s controversial $100,000 payment requirement for certain H-1B petitions involving workers outside the US. The White House introduced the measure in September 2025 and extended it for another year in September 2026.Vance said the payment was int...